Patent troll NTP successfully sues 13 software&hardware giants over "delivering e-mail through wirel - Polidicks

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2012/07/ntp-07-24-12-01.jpg[/img] [url]http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57478120-94/ntp-settles-e-mail-patent-suit-with-google-apple-microsoft-and-others/[/url] Some bits from the article: [quote]NTP, which some say held the mobile world hostage with its e-mail patents, has signed an agreement that will let companies including Google, Apple, and Microsoft use its patent for allowing e-mail services on handsets. The company announced today in a press release that it has reached a mutual resolution with 13 companies, including wireless carriers [B]AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile; smartphone manufacturers Apple, HTC, Motorola Mobility, Palm, LG, and Samsung; and e-mail service and software providers Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo.[/B][/quote] [quote][B]NTP and Research in Motion settled a similar dispute in 2006 for $612.5 million[/B] before going after the various tech companies and wireless providers. RIM now licenses the NTP patents. [B]Ron Epstein, founder of Epicenter Law and a settlement counsel to NTP, said NTP is in talks with a few more companies[/B] -- he couldn't name names -- even though this most recent agreement involves a large segment of the industry.[/quote] [quote]Epstein said he couldn't talk about the details of the agreement, but this is the [B]first time in his 22 years of practice that he's seen an agreement of this size[/B], among this many companies within an industry.[/quote] [quote]Epstein said the NTP patent portfolio is a valuable one, adding that [B]NTP founder Thomas Campana developed the email technology in 1991 before there wasn't[sic] a popular use for it.[/B] Epstein called the portfolio "the most heavily litigated portfolio," and said the agreements are merely an opportunity for NTP to be rewarded for innovation.[/quote] Last bolded part there is interesting. E-mail is just a very specialized form of data package that can be sent wirelessly. It's sort of like patenting the transfer of the letter E or the color blue. Only a matter of time before this kind of bullshit starts to affect us consumers. But as long as you can patent extremely vague shit like this it's going to continue.

suddenly, patenting rectangles isn't a joke

On the brightside, Apple lost again.

$

For a second I thought this was that one company that really doesn't have any products except for a few patents it bought up specifically so it could sue people, but I believe that starts with an L.

How are people allowed to patent things so widely already used?

[I]"The world of the patented wheel!"[/I]

[QUOTE=Te Great Skeeve;36922033]How are people allowed to patent things so widely already used?[/QUOTE] The most recent of the relevant patents, "Electronic mail system with RF communications to mobile processors," was filed in 1999. Take a look at some of the filing dates on the ones Apple has been throwing at people. I'm not defending them because they're obviously ridiculous at this point and the patent system was clearly not prepared for what would happen to technology in the 2000s, but to be fair they were filed before they became really popular. [QUOTE=Marbalo;36922301]I dont mind cash being exploited off of gargantuan corporations.[/QUOTE] It's not the money so much as the broken patent system continuing to cause trouble.

this post is unrelated

[QUOTE=Te Great Skeeve;36922033]How are people allowed to patent things so widely already used?[/QUOTE] [video=youtube;WCkOmcIl79s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCkOmcIl79s[/video]

I think i have a solution to the patent trolling... -Patents have a shorter life span at first. -Patent holder must invest X% of companies' total investment into the implementation of the patent into product/service -Patent holder must provide proof of this to renew patent and have a hearing to decide if they are right to maintain the patent or if they are just sitting on it. and of course, don't let vague as fuck patents get patented

I should patent something ridiculous so I can also make loadsa emone with no effort.

[QUOTE=DrLuke;36922640]I should patent something ridiculous so I can also make loadsa emone with no effort.[/QUOTE] Or lets form a team to patent [I]everything[/I] so we can make sure nobody uses them to bully other companies

[QUOTE=DrLuke;36922640]I should patent something ridiculous so I can also make loadsa emone with no effort.[/QUOTE] Like [URL="http://www.google.com/patents/US6368227?dq=6368227.&ei=UTcPUPKkOuGM6QHnzYCYCQ"]this[/URL]?

[QUOTE=SSBMX;36921934]On the brightside, Apple lost again.[/QUOTE] Why would you want them to lost in a battle like this?

[QUOTE=TM Gmod;36922620]I think i have a solution to the patent trolling... -Patents have a shorter life span at first. -Patent holder must invest X% of companies' total investment into the implementation of the patent into product/service -Patent holder must provide proof of this to renew patent and have a hearing to decide if they are right to maintain the patent or if they are just sitting on it. and of course, don't let vague as fuck patents get patented[/QUOTE] You got to hire a lot of people to review that or else you'll be swamped with work

[quote]$612.5 million[/quote] Jesus h christ

Patenting patents, brb.